THE CHRONICLED DISTINCTION BETWEEN MUHAMMADIYAH AND NAHDLATUL ULAMA MOVEMENTS IN INDONESIA

The current academic and political debates both in Indonesia and globally highlight the widespread roles of Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama among society. Both Islamic organizations were established hierarchically and structurally throughout Indonesia expanding from city center to periphery of the region. The emergence of the two largest Islamic groups was due to particular reasons. Muhammadiyah, on one hand, was founded by a well-known Islamic cleric, KH Ahmad Dahlan (1912) in response to a call to purify the original teaching of Islam, preventing mystique beliefs (tahayul), heresy (bid’ah) and superstitious beliefs (khurafat). On the other hand, the Nahdlatul Ulama was created by a group of Islamic clerics to mediate a series of conflicts and the discrepancies of Islamic perspectives in Nahdlatul Wathan Cohort (Taswir Al-Afkar) raised by KH Wahab Chasbullah’s and KH Mas Mansyur’s views (1916), and problems of Islam emerged from the Islamic Congress in Makkah held by King Ibn Saud (1926). Despite both two organizations have similar priority on social movements, they indeed differ in terms of historical engagements and activities, contributing factors, and delivering modes of educational services. Consequently, such differences predominantly lead to the dissimilarities of their dynamics progress and charitable endeavors.